Cured 18th & 21st in Maryland

"Girls night out, celebrating a friend's birthday. 10 out of 10 on food, drinks, atmosphere, and service. Will come back again, most definitely! Hopefully on a date night next time LOL"

"My boyfriend and I went here for the first time last night for our anniversary and we had a great time. The food and drinks were AMAZING! From the ambiance to the jazz band to the service - everything was just incredible. Our server, Angel, was awesome and knowledgeable. The vegetarian “steak” was phenomenal too! PLEASE don’t ever get rid of that menu item! It’s so hard as a vegetarian to try new restaurants and not have to end up just getting a salad. We will definitely be back!"

"This is a fine jazz club tucked in behind a nice restaurant. Have yourself an evening of sublime music, delicious foods, amazing crafted drinks, great bartenders, and good company at 18th & 21st. We made a last-minute decision to try for some of the nightly jazz (except Monday) at 18th & 21st on a Friday evening (Oct 2025), hip-ly named for the prohibition amendment and repeal :-) There’s a free parking garage right across from the entrance of the building they share with a sister restaurant, Cured. We arrived in the bright seasonally-decorated welcoming lobby about 7:50pm. We ought to have made reservations, but in under 10min, the reception staff took us to the more intimate room towards the back where we were seated at at the bar, which is really what we wanted. When we arrived, the 6pm jazz band had just gone on break, so we felt free to chat with friendly regulars and with the bar staff. They have a changing list of ten craft beers from $6 to $21, plus one $6 non-alcoholic brew. Five of the $14-$35 per-glass vintage wines from their list of 17 are preserved with the “corovin” system that keeps air out, so they are never “corked”. We focussed on their list of 11 crafted $13-$22 cocktails plus 5 non-alcoholic ones, all made with quality ingredients, each naming the staff member(s) (and guests) who formulated the recipe! We found Alex’s $16 Fernetinez sublimely sweet: of bitter fernet amaro, Frederick-based locally-sourced award-winning McClintock One Last Time gin (exclusive for 18th&21st), smooth Luxardo liqueur, and a sweet vermouth. We loved the aroma and flavor of the classic Smoked Old Fashioned of bourbon from Kentucky’s 10th-oldest distillery, Green River, moved to a mild well-rounded sweetness by brown sugar simple syrup, smoked in front of me by Mike (if i remember), with added richness from smoky bitters. They have a creative menu of $30 to $65 entrees, plus salads, small plates, apps, and sides, and they have a changing menu of small plates. We really hadn’t planned on eating, but we couldn’t resist. The $17 duck bao buns had thin tender filets with a sweet lightly-salty apricot-soy glaze and a tangy crunchy pickled cucumber slaw on a soft folded yeasted slightly-sweet white-flour bun. The $12 pair of fried fresh-tasting oysters were sweet and juicy with a light-flavored crunchy crust. They were so yummy, and easy to enjoy with our cocktails. Rodney Kelly’s jazz band was excellent, playing with spirit, joking with each other and the audience, even staging a song or two with a skilled member of the restaurant staff. Afterwards we had brief moments with some of the band members, like an intimate jazz club. Later in the evening, i also had a Turkish Sunset, a Manhattan-variation created in a collaboration among the staff and a guest (Well-done Ozzie!). I love Elijah Craig, and wanted to try their dry toasted rye, with housemade allspice dram syrup, Small Hands grenadine, and bitters. By now, i felt very much at home with the staff, and when i learned that one of them had helped formulate this beverage, i confided that its amazing complexity was, for me, just a touch too dry. Alex (if i remember) considered the ingredients and the target flavors, and added just a touch of a sweet lemony liqueur, perfectly complimenting the recipe’s flavors! Real-time crafting goes above and beyond, Thank you! (And when they next update the menu, maybe they’ll have a custom option named for me :-)"

"My mom and I had early dinner at 18th & 21 earlier in January 2026. We didn't have a reservation but staff got us a table within 10 min, I guess we got lucky. It was a fancy and relaxing atmosphere with live music (Friday evening). Everything we ordered was delicious. I would come back again!"

"This place is a 10 across the board. Food, amazing. Vibes, amazing. Live music? Stunning all around. Second time coming here and Sophia was our waitress and she is so pleasant and knowledgeable. Don’t know what to get? You can’t go wrong with her recs."

"I had the most beautiful experience here celebrating my 5 year anniversary with my boyfriend. Our waitress Amanda, was extraordinary! She was extremely sweet and accommodating. My boyfriend has severe nut and shellfish allergies and she was able to make us feel at ease and knew the menu well. The food was delicious! The burger was juicy and flavorful, and my boyfriend loved the chicken sandwich. We will be back!"

"I vaguely remember my experience at Cured 18th & 21st many years ago, so when a colleague suggested we meet there for lunch the other day, I was happy to try it again. I love that there’s a parking garage nearby, so that’s nice. The service was very friendly and I enjoyed my meal. I had the fish and chips, and the fish was served fresh and hot with fries and coleslaw. I’m not a coleslaw girl, so it wasn’t for me. My colleague had the Caesar salad and added salmon, which is her usual go to. Overall, it was a great Columbia spot for lunch."

"The restaurant hosted the local ladies of the Goldman Sachs - One Million Black Women in Business for our first in person meetup since most of graduated in December 2024. The food, the atmosphere, and the service were WONDERFUL. As one of the organizers, I was impressed at how easy they made it to find a private space, choose the items in our buffet, and pay. We will definitely be back!"